Hot melt adhesive systems have many applications in manufacturing and packaging. For example, thermoplastic hot melt adhesives are used for carton sealing, case sealing, tray forming, pallet stabilization, nonwoven applications including diaper manufacturing, and many other applications. Hot melt adhesives often come in the form of solid or semi-solid pellets or pieces, which can be generally referred to as adhesive particulate(s). These hot melt adhesive particulates are melted into a liquid form by a melter, and the liquid hot melt adhesive is ultimately applied to an object such as a work piece, substrate or product by a dispensing device suitable to the application.
A supply of hot melt adhesive particulate must be maintained and delivered to the melter in order for the melter to produce the liquid hot melt adhesive used by the dispensing device. For example, it is known for a person to employ a scoop or bucket to retrieve hot melt adhesive particulates from a bulk supply, and to deliver those particulates to the melter. Typically, this involves filling a hopper or other container associated with the melter one scoop of hot melt adhesive particulate at a time. This requires the person to handle the hot melt adhesive particulate closely, which may be undesirable because hot melt adhesive dust may be stirred up during handling. In addition, transferring hot melt adhesive particulate in this manner is prone to waste caused by spillage, especially if the bulk supply is positioned away from the melter, in which case the person must hand-carry scoops of hot melt adhesive particulate from the bulk supply to the melter.
It is also known to use wheeled containers, such as trash can-like storage containers having two wheels at the rear thereof (referred to as totes or wheeled container), as intermediate storage containers for hot melt adhesive particulate used in the pneumatic transfer of the adhesive particulate to the melter. For example, hot melt adhesive particulate may be received from a supplier in a box, and then transferred by a person to the wheeled container. The person may then move the wheeled container to a suitable location. However, moving this type of wheeled container requires the operator to tilt the container backwardly and support the weight of the container in a balanced manner while moving. This requires that the person have sufficient strength and coordination to handle the wheeled container. Such an approach also requires a person to handle the adhesive materials closely when transferring the materials from the box to the wheeled container. This approach also has risks of waste caused by spillage, whether during the transfer into the wheeled container or when moving the container. For example, if such wheeled containers are not properly balanced during moving, the hot melt adhesive particulate contained therein could spill out. In an extreme case, such a wheeled container could tip over, causing substantial spillage of the hot melt adhesive particulate.
Therefore, there is a need for improvements in melters and bulk adhesive transfer devices and systems that address one or more of the drawbacks discussed above, especially those relating to handling and transferring hot melt adhesive material particulate, such as between bulk storage units and melters.